Bills Beat Blog

By Joe Buscaglia

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Report: Pegula, Trump move on to next stage of Bills sale

by Joe Buscaglia,posted Aug 1 2014 10:47AM

The sale of the Buffalo Bills is on the way within the next few months, and two of the known bidders from Tuesday’s deadline have gotten good news. According to John Wawrow of The Associated Press, both Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and Donald Trump have been selected to advance to the next stage of the sale of the franchise.

The Toronto-based group interested in purchasing the Bills, with Jon Bon Jovi as the majority owner, were expected to place a nonbinding bid on the team and were reported as doing so. However, Wawrow writes that it is not known at this point if that group has been selected to advance along with Pegula and Trump.

The next step of the sale, according to a source to WGR Sports Radio 550, is those that are chosen to advance will then be vetted by both Morgan Stanley and the National Football League. In turn, the interested parties will also get a deeper look into the team’s financial information as the process goes along.

In the Associated Press report, it notes that the earlier deadline for nonbinding bids was a “soft” one, allowing others to send in their bids after the original mark of Tuesday. Those interested will be able to bid “until a prospective owner is identified,” according to Wawrow.

Once the parties that move on into the next stage of the sale have been vetted and they get a look at the team’s financial information, binding offers will be due on or around the start of September, according to WGR’s source. From that point, the trust would move on to the next stage and come to a decision on who the winning party will be.

Additionally, Wawrow writes that the next round of bids will not be sealed, which means that the trust will “have the ability to ask groups to increase their bids.”

The current hope by the Bills, the source to WGR said, is to have the winning bidder be put to a league vote at the meetings on October 7 and 8 in New York City. The person or group must be approved by 24 of 31 owners.